Gilmore Girls Fan Fest To Be Held In Kent, Connecticut This October

KENT, CT (March 1, 2017)—Gilmore
Girls Fan Fest today announced plans for this years’ fan festival which will
take place in Kent, Connecticut. Kent is one of the many beautiful towns in
Litchfield County, an area said to have inspired Gilmore Girls creator Amy
Sherman-Palladino’s original script. This festival, for fans, by fans, will
take place October 20- 22, 2017. A limited number of tickets are available
(first come, first serve), at www.gilmoregirlsfanfest.com beginning
March 1st at noon (EST).

The festival offers fans a chance to
experience obvious parallels of the fictional town the show was based on,
highlighting some of the most beloved elements of the series, but does not
attempt to recreate the town of Stars Hollow (which is perfectly formed in the
minds of its fans). The festival, in its second year, will once again be
produced by fans, Jennie and Marcus Whitaker. The Whitaker’s explored Kent,
after an introduction from David Schreiber the owner of Club Getaway, when
Washington was no longer able to accommodate an October event. Outside of
simply offering something new, this year’s move to Kent offers obvious benefits
to festival goers. While maintaining small town charm, Kent boasts a much more
traditional town square atmosphere than Washington and is lined with shops,
restaurants, meeting spaces and galleries to explore. In addition, the area has
more lodging available, specifically within the gates of Club Getaway which is
opening up 300 beds one mile from downtown Kent and offering their own lodging
package that includes two hot breakfasts, drink tickets and a shuttle to and
from town among other amenities available on the property.

“We
are so excited to welcome the Gilmore Girls Fan Fest to Kent,” Tim Good,
President of the Kent Chamber of Commerce and owner of The Good Gallery, one of
the towns many art galleries, said. “This is a wonderful opportunity for our
community, to welcome these devoted fans to our little piece of New England,
especially in the fall. All of the businesses and organizations here in Kent
are enthusiastic and have already started to plan for this very special weekend.
We know that this small Litchfield town of ours will be reminiscent of many
aspects of what the fans will wish for and we will be sure not to
disappoint!”

With events inspired by the show,
the weekend festivities are still being set but will mirror many of last year’s
events with even more activities for fans to embrace, given the longer timeline
for planning the festival and based on the amenities of the town. Obviously
there will be coffee, screenings, panels, meet and greets and themed activities
galore but the line up has not been finalized. The schedule will be announced
much closer to the event, but some of the activities should be listed on the
site as early as next week. Oh, and as if being named the best spot for fall
foliage in New England wasn’t enough, there will be real-life town troubadours
intentionally placed as festival attendees daydream about walk and talks in
their own version of Stars Hollow.

The
idea was first conceived by festival founders Jennie and Marcus Whitaker on a
drive through Connecticut in July 2016. This year they are looking forward to
an entirely new, but familiar, experience in Kent.

“What
an incredible journey we’ve been on over the past 8 months,” Gilmore Girls Fan
Fest co-founder, Marcus Whitaker, said. “Jennie and I have spent so much time
in Connecticut that we oftentimes feel like we’re a part of the community. We
get the pieces and tiny nuances the writers grabbed ahold of and built this
show around. To be honest, the more we travel through rural Connecticut,
specifically Litchfield County, the more parallels we see and the more we look
forward to connecting fans to something they love."

“I said it last year and I’ll say it
again, because not much has changed for me. I’m just as much of a fan as anyone
else here and this all still feels like a dream. But, what comes to mind, for
me, every time I think about the festival, is a direct quote from Amy
Sherman-Palladino in a 2001 Desert News interview about her thoughts on the
series,” festival co-founder, Jennie Whitaker, said. “Pulling one from Amy’s
book I’ll say, ‘If I can make people feel this much of what I felt
walking around this fairy town, I thought that would be wonderful’. And that’s
really why we're doing this, it’s all for fun, for fellow fans and to celebrate
a lot of really talented people we admire.”

The festival hopes to add more cast
and crew members as the date gets closer.

Gilmore Girls Fan Fest, founded by
husband and wife, Marcus and Jennie Whitaker, is a production of Wild Berry &
Whimsy, LLC. Gilmore Girls Fan Fest will take place in Kent, CT October 20-22,
2017. For more information go to www.gilmoregirlsfanfest.com.